Merkel sidesteps German conservatives’ election losses as pressure mounts on Merz

German political heavyweight Angela Merkel avoided discussing her party’s latest election defeats on Monday, instead backing the Christian Democratic Union to return to its identity as a broad-based “people’s party.” The party and its current leader, Chancellor Friedrich Merz, are under pressure following disastrous election results that saw them lose to the far-right Alternative for Germany. Merkel, who led Germany from 2005 to 2021, did not mention the elections or Merz directly. Her only apparent reference to Sunday’s results came obliquely: “On a day like today, and after an evening like yesterday, it is perhaps worth thinking once again about what we can take from Konrad Adenauer,” she said.